Episode 737: Derinkuyu: The Underground Empire

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the amazing underground city of Derinkuyu. This tomb of a city is in modern day Turkey and dates back thousands of years. Nobody is sure when they started building it, but at its peak, it held a sustainable population of 20,000 people. It held its own food stores, animal farms, churches, wine makers, you name it. It had giant stone doors that no attacker could budge, and it was used over the centuries by multiple cultures and religious groups. In fact, it wasn’t fully abandoned until the early 1920s and rediscovered by accident in the 1960s. If you like the cities of the dwarves and underground catacombs, this one is for you.

Visit Our Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220810-derinkuyu-turkeys-underground-city-of-20000-people

https://sometimes-interesting.com/derinkuyu-the-underground-cities-of-cappadocia/

https://tomorrow.city/a/elengubu-derinkuyu-underground-city-thousands-of-people

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/derinkuyu-turkey-underground-city-strange-maps

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derinkuyu_underground_city